A privacy impact assessment has been submitted to Alberta's Information and Privacy Commissioner, but a response hasn't yet been received.
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Edmonton police have rolled out a facial recognition program in an effort to more quickly identify suspects in criminal investigations.
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Announced during a media availability Tuesday afternoon, the police service contracted the NeoFace Reveal facial recognition technology from NEC Corporation of America to expedite the ID process and lead to more concluded files. The Edmonton Police Service (EPS) has been exploring the possibility of facial recognition technology for several years and consulted with many other police agencies and the industry before making the decision to move forward.
Edmonton police Supt. Devin Laforce, of the research and development division, said the facial recognition software won’t replace the human element of investigative work, but will aid in identifying suspects quicker and preserve time and resources. There is no power of arrest based on the technology and subsequent steps are required to confirm if the person in question is a suspect and can subsequently be arrested and charged.
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“Identifying a suspect might sound like an easy task in policing but this process often is complicated and time consuming. There are many files that are not adequately concluded because a suspect cannot be identified,” Laforce told reporters. “When a file is not concluded with a charge, we know this can heavily weigh on victims of crimes, their families and community.”
Addressing the possibility of privacy and security concerns from the public, Laforce said use of the new program adheres to all privacy laws and is conducted in a secure manner. Only a select group of trained technicians within the service will have access to the technology and police officers will have to submit their investigative requests to this team.
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To use the system, investigators would provide a photo such as one captured from CCTV footage when gathering evidence, and it would be compared against the secure mugshot database of thousands of suspects that have previously been charged by Edmonton or Calgary police.
The technology won’t be used to monitor live streams or social media platforms, Laforce said, noting the use of the system won’t be to surveil but only when digital exhibits are submitted as part of a criminal investigation.
A privacy impact assessment has been submitted to Alberta’s Information and Privacy Commissioner, but a response hasn’t yet been received. Laforce said the police service will continually audit the use of the system and will ensure it’s in line with privacy legislation.
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Homicide section using the tech
Just a month in, Laforce said the software has already shown success.
Police were able to identify and charge three suspects of an aggravated assault last October in the city’s Downtown core using the technology. The city’s homicide section is also using the technology for a recent investigation that Laforce said has led to leads that they otherwise wouldn’t have had.
“It is our job to keep the citizens of Edmonton safe and solve the crimes committed in our communities,” he said. “We are confident that this facial recognition tool will keep our communities safe and secure, progress our criminal investigations in ways we couldn’t without it and continue to protect rights and privacy.”
Edmonton police implement facial recognition technology to help fast-track investigations - Edmonton Journal
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